


and all the paths lead to you

by TheCoasts



Category: Tomb Raider (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Post SOTTR
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-12 21:18:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16003493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCoasts/pseuds/TheCoasts
Summary: an unexpected guest in an unexpected place shows lara that life itself is an adventurepicks up where the ending of shadow of the tomb raider left off, but before the epilogue.





	and all the paths lead to you

  “Lara.”

 Lara turned around, and found Etzli behind her, his sun necklace proudly sitting on his chest, a dagger at his side. Ever since the coronation, the archeologist had made sure to help out with Paititi’s daily life, often consulting with Urunatu’s son to make sure everything was taken care of.

  “Uchu said you were about to leave?”

 She smiled.

  “Jonah wants me to visit him and Abby for a few days.” She was amused by the way the boy’s eyes lit up at the mention of the couple. “No wedding, I swear.”

 Etzli chuckled. “Be sure to remind Jonah that I will still attending it when it happens.”

  “I’ll pass that along,” she replied with a wink.

 When Jonah had decided to go back to Kuwaq Yaku, Lara had stayed behind in Paititi. After the fall of the Kukulkan cult, the city had needed some reconstruction. Fully aware of the role she had played in all this, it only seemed fair to Lara that she stayed to help fix the things she had unknowingly helped to put in disarray. Now, almost eight months after the entire ordeal had taken place on the City of the Serpent temple, Jonah had kindly invited her to his place once again, where he promised her nothing but great meals and even better laughs —which she, for obvious reasons, couldn’t find herself rejecting.

 

* * *

 

  “Lara! There you are, finally!”

  “Jonah!” She replies with a grin on her face, as two massive arms engulf her once she’s on the dock. “Sorry I arrived a bit later than I initially said I would, Uchu didn’t seem very keen on letting me leave just yet.”

 Jonah laughed heartily at her comment. He missed Paititi and the friends they had made there, but oddly —or maybe not so much— Kawuq Yaku felt like home to him now. His cooking skills had led him right into the city’s bar’s kitchen where he lended his culinary talents during the week. Him and Abby were taking things slow, enjoying the moment and spending time together; be it fishing on a saturday morning or kicking pillagers to the curb when they tried to stir some things up in the city.

 He hadn’t seen Lara in almost four months months since her last visit and yet it felt like years to him.

  “How’s Etzli doing?” He asked her with interest, knowing he had quite the plans for his city.

 Lara brightened up at the mention of the boy whom she had started to see as a surrogate little brother.

  “He’s well. He- He sends you his regards, by the way.”

 Jonah raised an eyebrow. “Is it really what he said?”

 Lara chuckled at that. “You know damn well it’s not.” He shook his head with a fake scowl.

  “That boy, I swear.”

  “His heart is in the right place, you can’t blame him.” She said, making her best friend smile in agreement. After losing both of his parents, the boy —who had already seemed so mature to Lara upon their first meeting— had grown even more as to shoulder the burden of his new duties. She remembered Amaru’s last words as he was dying, asking her to protect Paititi and seeing how responsibly Etzli had handled every matter these past few months, and knew that promise had been fulfilled.

 She focused back on the present time and noticed Jonah’s smile slowly erasing itself off his face.

  “Jonah?”

 He looked at her, his hands still on her shoulders. “I didn’t ask you to come here just for a friendly visit,” he explained, his traits growing serious. “Well, yes but there’s more.”

  “I admit that you kind of lost me, there. What do you mea-“

  “Sam is here.” He cut her off and braced himself for whatever reaction would follow.

 He had expected anger or a punch on his arm. He had expected for her to swear or call him names very loudly. What he hadn’t been prepared for, surely, was for Lara Croft to remain speechless, as if frozen.

  “Little bird?”

 The familiar nickname seemed to bring her out of her unresponsive state as the situation started to sink into her.

  “She’s here?” He nodded. “But how? Why? When did she arrive?”

 She had just finish speaking those words as she heard footsteps trailing behind Jonah’s bigger figure. He slowly moved out of the way just as Abby and Sam came into view. The archeologist couldn’t help but stare at the woman she had so affectionately called her best friend not even three years ago, before everything got out of hand and before they both lost themselves in the chaos that ensued.

  “Sam,” she breathed out, the name still clinging to her lips, the letters rolling off her tongue with ease and yet, an hint of sadness there and here.

 The woman in question stopped a few steps away from her, her eyes wide. That’s the moment Jonah and Abby chose to scurry away, leaving the former best friends on their own to deal with their issues.

 Lara was still assessing the entire thing.

  “You’re here.” She said, almost gulping. “You’re really here.”

 Sam looked around, as if to take in every details about the place they were currently standing in.

  “You know, I should‘ve known this would be the kind of place you’d end up in.”

  “I like it.”

  “So do I,” the filmmaker agreed. “It’s full of colors. Can’t hurt after all this shit.”

 Lara nodded.

  “Sam, I’m-“

  “Lara-“

 They both started talking at the same time, stopping upon realizing it. They chuckled lightly but nervously.

  “You go first.” Sam said. “But let me just sit here. Abby doesn’t joke when she offers the grand tour of the place.” She sat on the dock , her legs in the boat.

 Lara didn’t even know where to start, so she figured sitting next to her wouldn’t be the worst idea, if only to stall a few more moments to try and organize her thoughts. She remained silent and still, staring at the water in front of her, until she felt ready to speak.

  “Trinity is gone.”

 Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Sam raising her head.

  “Amaru was the one behind my father's murder.” Her gaze dropped to her knees. “Ana had been sent to manipulate him, and ultimately it was another Trinity agent that pulled the trigger. But Amaru had been the one to give the order.”

  “I'm sorry, Lara.”

 She genuinely felt sorry, knowing how much Lara had resented her father over the past few years until they had gone to Yamatai and she had finally understood his view on the myths they all had grown up hearing about. Sam wasn't a fool; she knew Lara was still hurting, but now that Trinity was out of the way, maybe she would find the time to finally grieve her parents in peace.

  “It's okay,” The ghost of a smile traced itself on the young archeologist's face. “My father spent years following his obsession around the entire world, ignoring everything and pushing everyone away, and it ended up killing him. I can't be mad at him anymore knowing I've done the exact same thing. Especially to you.”

 She hears Sam's short intake of breath.

  “Lara...”

 The latter shush her with a shake of her head.

  “I've never really apologized for the way I handled things, back then. But we were so close, I think having to tell you face-to-face that I was leaving you behind would've made me stayed more than anything.” Lara let herself fall backwards against the wooden dock. “And I couldn't...”

  “I could've helped you, Lara. You know I would have stayed with you, no matter what.”

 This made Lara sat back upright. “That's the _thing_ , Sam! I know you would've followed me anywhere, and I couldn't risk it.” Realizing how she had involuntarily raised her voice, she dropped it back to a regular volume. “Hell, even Jonah tried to reason with me, from the moment I told him about needing to go to Siberia. And trying to keep up with me got him stabbed.”

  “Lara, he wanted to be there.” Sam got a bit frustrated at her friend's antics. “He made his choice. He got him hurt, but he never blamed you because he knew he had chosen to be there. Me? You never let me make that choice, you just took it away from me, picked an answer yourself and ran with it.” She saw Lara wince slightly at her words, but if they ever wanted to build trust again, things needed to be clear as crystal between the two of them.

  “What happened on Yamatai-”

  “Was never your fault, Lara.” She cut her off, fully aware of where this was going. She had seen Lara almost lose herself to that dark pit of guilt a few years ago, and knew all too well the signs. “I've told you that many times already, Jonah too. If anything, you _saved_ us.”

 The englishwoman was clenching and unclenching her jaw.

  “I just didn't want to lose you.” She looked back at her friend, her eyes depicting the image of a girl who had already lost too much in the past. “I knew what you'd have said, if I had asked you. I couldn't risk it.”

 Deep down, Lara was aware that she had used the pretext of Sam's mother trying to keep her away from her daughter as a cement for her own excuse, but the fear of losing her best friend was bigger than her rational state, and she had decided to go with it. In a way, she hadn't been wrong, but it might have not been the way to do it.

  “I was sure that if I stayed away from you, Trinity wouldn't see you as a way to get to me since I wouldn't be associating myself with you anymore. I thought this was the way to keep you safe and sound; and now I've realized that, by doing this, I've just made you an easy target during all these years.”

 Sam nodded, glad to see, at last, Lara coming to her senses.

  “You were in even more danger because of my decision... If I couldn't keep you safe, what the hell would have kept them from taking you?” The younger woman shook her head. “If they had, I wouldn't have hesitated a second before running and making everything within my power to get you back.”

  “It was a push of luck that nothing really happened during that time when you were away, Lara.” Sam put her hand on her friend's shoulder. “But now that Trinity is gone and that you've finally come to the same conclusion as I did, maybe we could catch up? You could tell me your story. From the moment you left, to now.”

 Lara's eyes were wet with unshed tears, and Sam reach up and brushed her cheek.

  “It's okay, Lara.”

  “I'm sorry.”

The japanese woman smiled, reassuring her former roommate that everything would indeed be alright.

  “Now, tell me everything.”

 Lara chuckled lightly. She had to be honest, it felt good to have Sam back at her side once again.

  “I told you about Ana, right?” She continued when Sam nodded, remembering about a few conversations back in uni where her name had popped up here and there. “Before I left for Syria, Ana tried to convince me that trying to find the Prophet's tomb was madness. She told me that it had led my father to his doom. I still went, finding the tomb. But so did Trinity.” Sam had gotten closer during Lara's narration and was now holding her friend's hands in hers. “I did enjoy pickpocketing the detonator from Konstantin before blowing up the place.” Sam rolled her eyes. Leave it to Lara to take pleasure in the things that could probably have killed her if she had been anyone else. “I got back to England and directly went to the Manor. It had been a while since I had last set a foot in this place, but I started to put all of my research there. I knew my apartment had been compromised and I couldn't let my findings fall into the wrong hands.”

  “Was Jonah with you already?” Sam asked, curiosity in her eyes. She really was interested by the story, knowing only the few details Jonah had willingly gave up over the years when they had had opportunity to speak for a bit. But apart from “ _Lara's alive_ ” and _“Lara thought she was chasing ghosts until she wasn't_ ”, she didn't really get a lot out of the guy.

  “I asked him to come over as soon as I came home.” She took a deep breath, since this was where the story got more complicated. “He tried to get me to let go of this... obsession, as he called it. Saying that he would get me killed, and that he wouldn't stay and watch me dig my own grave.”

  “So he left? But I thought...”

 Lara shook her head.

  “I'm not done yet, you idiot.”

 Sam faked outrage at her words, before laughing. “My bad, carry on then.”

  “As soon as he left the room, I got attacked.” Sam squeezed Lara's hands. “It was a Trinity agent, sent to recover whatever I had found about the Prophet and most importantly, the Divine Source. He almost choked me until Jonah came barging into the room again, chasing him off. I was okay but the guy had still managed to get a book that contained some of my research with him before he disappeared. That's when Jonah decided to come with me.” She marked a pause, licking her lips. “We traveled to Siberia and after an avalanche got us separated, I had to make my way through a valley, where I ended up meeting a girl, named Sofia. At some point, I got captured by Trinity and that's when I found out about Ana being a spy, sent to try and manipulate my father.”

  “Tell me you got to punch her in the face, at least.”

  “Not really.” Lara still felt a bit responsible for what had happened to Ana. She worked for Trinity, yes, but she had mostly been trying to save herself and her brother. Sadly for her, the organization didn't value its employees as much as she thought. “I found an ally during my short time in captivity. We helped each other escape the place and Jacob, who turned out to be the Prophet himself, took me with him. I got to a village, inhabited by the Remnants. Their life purpose was to protect Kitezch and the Divine Source, which Trinity ended up finding and we had to fight them and the Deathless ones.”

 Sam shuddered a bit at the name. “You know what? I'm not even going to ask who they are for now.”

 Lara snorted at this. “Three words for you: Immortal Greedy Men.”

  “Yeah... Still not gonna ask.”

  “Once they were defeated and I had killed Konstantin, I got to see the Divine Source and Ana begged me for it. I was surrounded, so my only choice was to either give it to her or destroy it.” She gave Sam a sad look. “I chose to do the latter. It could've had many purposes, saved numerous lives, but it was too powerful for any of us to acquire. Jacob could barely trust himself with it, so how could I ensure it would be used sagely in anyone's hands? By destroying it, it also killed Jacob. He assured me that it was all alright, that I had made the right decision.”

  “You did.”

  “Now, I know it. Still didn't make it any easier. But the Divine Source was destroyed, Konstantin was dead, Jacob had finally passed... Sofia became the new Remnant leader and Jonah, Ana and I left.”

  “Ana?”

  “She was shot dead by a sniper when she was about to tell me about what had happened to my father and who had ordered his execution. Now, I know that Rourke had made of his men fire the shot that killed Ana, but Dominguez –Amaru– was the one behind my father's murder.”

 Sam gestured for them to go sit on the beach, as the wooden floor was starting to hurt her back, not accustomed to it like Lara was after the months she had spent here. They got up and walked towards a calm spot near the water, where they soon found themselves in a more comfortable position, leaning against a tree that was overlapped with moss.

  “How exactly did you find yourself here?” Inquired Sam, still wanting to hear the rest of the story.

  “Jonah and I tracked Trinity and Dominguez to South America. We first got to Brazil, before moving to Mexico and, finally, here in Peru. In Cozumel, I found the dagger Trinity was after, and triggered... the apocalypse.” Sam's eyes went wide.

  “The apocalypse?” She was a bit dumbfounded. “Surely you're joking... Or maybe not, knowing you.”

 Lara gave her a sheepish smile.

  “We then found the hidden city of Paititi and got ourselves in the middle of a rebellion to get rid of a cult that was actually led by Dominguez himself. After a few trials and mistakes, we found the Silver Box and brought it back to Paititi, where I joined forces with the Queen of the Yaaxil, the initial guardians of the Box. Together, we got to the City of the Serpent, where I defeated Dominguez. That's when... it got weirder.”

  “You mean, it's actually possible?”

 Lara let out a small laugh.

  “Oh shush, you'll know what I mean.”

  “If you say so, sweetie.”

 If Lara noticed the nickname, she didn't say anything.

  “After finishing off Dominguez, I took the dagger and my arms started glowing even more. I had a dream about my parents. Both of them were here, with a younger version of me. A vision of the childhood I never got to experience. Dominguez's goal was to remake the world, but I was resolved not to make that happen. That's when the Yaaxil Queen arrived, and I remembered Unuratu's words, explaining that the Crimson Fire would lead her if she ever got lost along the way and forgot about her purpose.”

 A quick glance told her that Sam was still listening intently.

  “She gestured me towards an altar, and in that moment I knew what it meant.” She briefly looked at her hands, remembering the sensation when they had started to glow. The warmth that was slowly filling her every cell, showing her every possibility, every single thing she could do. “As I was lying down, I kept thinking that I was prepared for death. Over the past few years, I had convinced myself I was, that I had made my peace with it, in case it was waiting for me at the corner. But now, as I was staring up at the dagger above me, I realized something I thought had forever left me: I wanted to live. And then, the dagger came down.”

 Sam got closer to her, as if to reassure herself that Lara was fine, despite her obviously being alive.

  “The blade never touched me, barely brushing my ribcage as light completely engulfed my body. Then something very bright, too bright, and darkness.” She mind-absently touched the spot where the dagger should have landed. “When I woke up, I was back in Paititi, Jonah sitting beside me on the floor. He told me that we had all made it, and the sun was back. The apocalypse had been stopped and people seemed to accept Etzli, Unuratu's son, as their legitimate leader easier than we thought. Everything had turned out to be alright.”

  “I'm glad you're okay,” said Sam, her gaze glued to Lara's. “So tell me, Miss Croft. After saving the world, what have you been up to?”

  “She stayed in Paititi, of course.” Jonah's voice interrupted them. “I came back here, to Kawuq Yaku, but she decided there was still too much to do there to leave.”

 Lara nodded. “And as I told him, I'm done searching. There are plenty of things waiting for me and they can all wait. For now, I want to be around people.”

 Sam deadpanned. “You mean, people who aren't mummified, or decomposed corpses, or millennia old homicidal creatures?”

 They all shared a laugh.

  “Yeah,” smiled Lara. “Something like that.”


End file.
